• KP Chief Minister Afridi says party has not refused to engage in dialogue, warns against ‘misadventure’
• Asks Centre to re-engage Kabul, abandon ‘good and bad Taliban’ policy
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Saturday struck a conciliatory tone, offering to resolve issues with the federal government through dialogue, but warned that any “misadventure” could lead to a point of no return.
“We are not an armed group,” he told journalists in an informal chat at the KP House. “We want issues resolved through dialogue. No one has refused to engage in a dialogue,” the chief minister said.
He insisted that the demands presented by the PTI were genuine, including visitation rights for Imran Khan and his treatment at a private hospital in Islamabad.
He argued that he had approached courts and written to the federal government for permission to meet his jailed leader, but he was forced to announce the Islamabad march on Aug 5 after he was denied permission.
CM Afridi said the federal government had 52 days to mull his demands, adding that it was seeking time to discuss the issues now that the Sept 27 march was due.
He said his party had agreed to extend the date till October 4 to find an amicable solution to the issues faced by the PTI through dialogue. He, however, warned that any “misadventure” could result in serious repercussions.
“We will be on the road on a 24-hour notice,” he said when asked about speculations regarding the imposition of Governor’s Rule. “They wouldn’t be able to afford my removal,” he warned. Asked who would be his likely successor, CM Afridi said it was the prerogative of party leader Imran Khan.
He criticised the Punjab chief minister, the federal information minister and others for singling out Pashtuns. He claimed that the diatribe against Pashtuns was a “well-hatched conspiracy to repeat the East Pakistan tragedy and divide Pakistan”. “We are patriotic Pakistanis and we are peaceful people. We will not allow any conspiracy to succeed,” he said.
He defended his performance as the CM and highlighted the achievements his government had made in achieving high revenue targets and providing resources to the police to fight terrorism in the province.He also lambasted the federal government’s current Afghan policy and its failure to overcome terrorism. He said that he had presented his own plan to the military and civilian leadership to restore peace in the province by re-engaging with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, reopening the border and ending the distinction between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban.
Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2026
